Pressed Glass Decanter

Liquid from another vessel is poured into the decanter in order to separate a small volume of liquid containing sediment from a larger volume of clear liquid which is free of such. In the process the sediment is left in the original vessel. and the clear liquid is transferrred to the decanter. This is analogous to racking but performed just before serving.

Decanters have been used for serving wines that are laden with sediments in the original bottle. These sediments could be the result of very old wine or one that was not filtered or clarified during winemaking process. In most modern winemaking the need to decant for this purpose has been significantly reduced because may wines no longer produce a significant amount of sediment as they age.